WELLINGTON, New Zealand — U.S. women’s national team coach Vlatko Andonovski said he opted not use any substitutes in the second half of the 1-1 draw to Netherlands in the Women’s World Cup because his team was playing “well.”
“I thought we had control of the game and we were knocking on the door of scoring a goal,” Andonovski said. “Our players played well.
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“We were around the goal the whole time, and I just didn’t want to disrupt the rhythm at that point because sometimes a substitute comes in and it might take a minute or two to get into a rhythm.
“We just didn’t want to jeopardize anything because I thought all three of our forwards were very good today, dangerous, created opportunities and were a handful.”
The lone substitute to come in for the Americans was midfielder Rose Lavelle, who came on at half-time for Savannah DeMelo.
The USWNT went down early after a Jill Roord goal through Lindsey Horan’s legs in the 17th minute.
Horan equalized in the 62nd minute on a corner kick, served in by Rose Lavelle.
Andonovski was asked specifically if winger Lynn Williams, who has not played yet after two games at the World Cup, was considered as a substitute option, and the coach said she was.
“Yes, we of course talked about substitutes and Lynn was probably one of the first that would’ve been on the field of we needed to change something,” he said.
